I also often wonder why the Pier Manager sells wooden benches and then to allow purchasers to decorate them with flowers and wreaths at either end when the memorial plaque on the seat should be sufficient.
It is such a shame because it leaves visitors too scared to sit on the benches.
Bri, I agree completely and it's a problem not just on the pier but wherever there are memorial benches. Does anyone ever come back to remove the flowers when they are dead (or tatty if they're artificial)? It doesn't look like it! Some of the benches then become such a mess that I wonder about posting them on the eyesores thread. My OH gets pretty cross about this and we remove any dead or tatty flowers that we see.
When a bench has been given in memory of someone, whose property is it? There are plenty of benches in public areas which also suffer from this, e.g. Invalids' Walk, Happy Valley, West Shore.